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Read more about the article Calling an API in Angular: Using Ngrx/Redux Architecture and Yacy API for Susper

Calling an API in Angular: Using Ngrx/Redux Architecture and Yacy API for Susper

Initially, in Susper we retrieved data from Yacy using a service in Angular 2, but later we introduced redux architecture, which resolved many issues and also made the code structured. In the past when Web APIs were not standardised people used to make their own architecture to implement each functionality. Web APIs have simplified the process of sending a query to an external server and standardised the process of sharing one’s own work with others. The rise of Internet and mobile content in the recent past has resulted in many developers decoupling the front end and back end of their projects by exposing APIs that they create so that Android and iOS devices can interact with them using Web APIs. If you are new to building web APIs, A good place would be to look is here https://zapier.com/learn/apis/chapter-1-introduction-to-apis/ . To understand how the Susper front end implements API calls from Yacy, it's essential to understand the ngrx redux architecture inspired by react redux which helps manage the state. In case you are new to redux, please go through this to learn more about it and look at this sample app before proceeding with the rest of this blog post In Susper we have implemented a front end for peer-to-peer decentralised Search Engine Yacy using Yacy Search API. The services here are very similar to the angular services that seasoned angular js developers are familiar with. This service implementation in the project is responsible for making the calls to the API whenever a query is made. https://github.com/fossasia/susper.com/blob/master/src/app/search.service.ts where we implemented a searchService -   getsearchresults(searchquery) { let params = new URLSearchParams(); for (let key in searchquery) { if (searchquery.hasOwnProperty(key)) { params.set(key, searchquery[key]); } } params.set('wt', 'yjson'); params.set('callback', 'JSONP_CALLBACK'); params.set('facet', 'true'); params.set('facet.mincount', '1'); params.append('facet.field', 'host_s'); params.append('facet.field', 'url_protocol_s'); params.append('facet.field', 'author_sxt'); params.append('facet.field', 'collection_sxt'); return this.jsonp .get('http://yacy.searchlab.eu/solr/select', {search: params}).map(res => res.json()[0] ).catch(this.handleError); } Now that you have seen the above service it contains JSONP_CALLBACK as a parameter, which tells the server "Hey Yacy, I can understand JSON, so you could communicate or send me data in JSON”. Some servers need one to send a header Accept: application/json *JSONP is JSON with padding, that is, you put a string at the beginning and a pair of parenthesis around it* so what about Redux where have we used it then? Basically, every redux based project will have an action and a reducer for each state in the store. Especially for search implementation we have our reducers and actions at https://github.com/fossasia/susper.com/blob/master/src/app/reducers And https://github.com/fossasia/susper.com/blob/master/src/app/actions Now going through the architecture when a user types something in the search bar a call to the action query is made this.store.dispatch(new query.QueryServerAction(event.target.value)); Which is of type QUERYSERVER   export class QueryServerAction implements Action { type = ActionTypes.QUERYSERVER; constructor(public payload: any) {} } export type Actions = QueryAction|QueryServerAction ;   Now on the above action below effect gets called @Injectable() export class ApiSearchEffects { @Effect() search$: Observable<any> = this.actions$ .ofType(query.ActionTypes.QUERYSERVER) .debounceTime(300) .map((action: query.QueryServerAction) => action.payload) .switchMap(querypay => { if (querypay === '') { return empty(); }…

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Read more about the article How to make your Website as a default Search Engine

How to make your Website as a default Search Engine

A huge number of users are forcefully made to use predefined search engines on their browsers. On the Firefox browser, you usually see a search box at the top right. In Chrome, you can simply put in anything into the URL bar and it will go to the standard search engine. The browser companies predefined these search boxes, e.g. Google on Chrome, Firefox depending on which language version you have Yahoo or another and on Internet Explorer/Edge it is Bing. This shuts out new and independent searches like our Susper search engine. However, we want to help users and provide them with a choice.   At Susper, we integrated a small toast modal which allows users to make Susper their default search engine. They can simply go to susper.com and they will see a small option to change their search engine.  Search box on Firefox Implementation We have Implemented this feature in a simple three-step procedure. 1.Generate Plugin for your search engine create a plugin for your search engine at:- http://mycroftproject.com/submitos.html checked in with “show full instructions” checkbox at the top of the form to understand what those fields are. Finally, a plugin got generated in XML format that we have to distribute to our user base. 2.Distributing the plugin to our user base We at susper.com have implemented a toast onto the right bottom of the website’s homepage. Where, when the user clicks on install Susper, the button triggers and displays an alert box. Check the box “make this the current search engine”, and make the Susper search engine as your default search engine.   Implementation Code:-     We first check whether the search engine is installed already using window.external.IsSearchProviderInstalled , if not we show the toast for the user. When the user clicks Install button, this will call the window.external.AddSearchProvider API and installs susper using that.   <div id="set-susper-default"> <h3>Set Susper as your default search engine on Mozilla!</h3> <ol> <li><button id="install-susper">Install susper</button></li> <li>Mark the checkbox to set Susper as your default search engine</li> <li>Start searching!</li> </ol> <button id="cancel-installation">Cancel</button> </div> <script> $(document).ready(function () { if (window.external && window.external.IsSearchProviderInstalled) { var isInstalled = window.external.IsSearchProviderInstalled("http://susper.com"); if (!isInstalled) { $("#set-susper-default").show(); } } $("#install-susper").on("click", function () { window.external.AddSearchProvider("http://susper.com/susper.xml"); }); $("#cancel-installation").on("click", function () { $("#set-susper-default").remove(); }); }); </script> In this way, we are able to give users an option to choose Susper as a default search engine. More details regarding the implementation of this feature in susper could be checked at this pull https://github.com/fossasia/susper.com/pull/62 .

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Adding a page to Susper

As a project grows, it's complexity increases. It suddenly seems to have a higher number of components and linked files. Performing a basic task, such as adding a new page to the website, might take more intricate knowledge. This blog deals with adding a new page to any Angular 2 project, in this case to Susper project. You can also check any of the sample components in the code on the Github Repository for further reference. STEP 1: Use ng g component <component-name> command to generate a new component with your desired name. Make sure the component-name is relevant and describes the page you wish to add. Once the above command is run in the Angular CLI project, it will automatically generate the following files: component-name.html component-name.css component-name.ts component-name.spec.ts file It also adds the new component name to src/app/app.module.ts in the declarations section, after importing it. You can also do all of this manually without the ng g component command too. STEP 2: Write your HTML and CSS files. Ensure that your page looks how you intend it to. Using bootstrap for your CSS classes might help you. Ensure that you link your bootstrap modules in index.html and not in the individual component files. STEP 3: If your page uses any typescript functions, please link your functions to your HTML page, after defining them in typescript. This is how your typescript file might look (This is how it looks in Susper): You may want to import modules you will need first. Notice this snippet of code: export class DemoComponent implements OnInit { constructor() { } ngOnInit() { } } You can define all your variables and functions in the component class. ngOnInit() has already been listed as a demo. Also, note that including anything in the constructor function will run as soon as the page is loaded or initialized. STEP 4: If you have a unit tests in place, then component-name.spec.ts is where they are listed. Make sure to update it. This is the procedure in Susper. Initially, your component-name.spec.ts will look like this: import { async, ComponentFixture, TestBed } from '@angular/core/testing' import { DemoComponent } from './demo.component' describe('DemoComponent', () => { let component: DemoComponent; let fixture: ComponentFixture<DemoComponent>; beforeEach(async(() => {   TestBed.configureTestingModule({     declarations: [ DemoComponent ]   })   .compileComponents(); })); beforeEach(() => {   fixture = TestBed.createComponent(DemoComponent);   component = fixture.componentInstance;   fixture.detectChanges(); }); it('should create', () => {   expect(component).toBeTruthy(); }); });   Here is what you need to add: Add imports under Testbed.configureTestingModule. TIP:  Make sure to import all the modules from their file locations first. imports: [ RouterTestingModule, BrowserModule, CommonModule, FormsModule, HttpModule, JsonpModule, StoreModule.provideStore(reducer), StoreDevtoolsModule.instrumentOnlyWithExtension() ], Add all the other components under the declarations heading.    TIP: Make sure to import all the components first. It should look something like this: declarations: [   AppComponent,   NavbarComponent,   IndexComponent,   ResultsComponent,   NotFoundComponent,   AdvancedsearchComponent,   SearchBarComponent,   FooterNavbarComponent,   AboutComponent,   ContactComponent,   ModalComponent,   InfoboxComponent, DemoComponent, ], })   Now add service providers under the providers heading if any. Finally, add any additional test cases using the standard syntax proved by Jasmine with it…

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Fixing the scroll position in the Susper Frontend

An interesting problem that I encountered in the Susper frontend repository is the problem of the scroll position in SPAs (Single Page Applications). Since most websites now use Single page applications, such a hack, might prove useful to a lot of the readers. Single page applications (SPAs) provide a better user experience. But, they are significantly harder to design and build. One major problem they cause is that they do not remember the scroll position on a page, like traditional browsers do. In traditional browsers, if we open a new page, by clicking on a link, it opens the page at the top. Then on clicking back, it goes to not just to the previous link, but also the last position scrolled to on it. The issue we faced in Susper, was that when we opened a link, Susper being a SPA did not realise it was on a new page, and hence did not scroll to the top again. This was observed on every page, of the appliance. Clicking on Terms on the footer for instance, would open the bottom of the Terms page, which was not what we wanted. FIX: Since all the pages required the fix, I ran a script in the main app component. Whenever an event occurs, the router instance detects it. Once the event has been identified as the end of a navigation action, I scroll the window to (0,0). Here is the code snippet: import {Component, OnInit} from '@angular/core'; import { RouterModule, Router, NavigationEnd } from '@angular/router'; @Component({ selector: 'app-root', templateUrl: './app.component.html', styleUrls: ['./app.component.css'] }) export class AppComponent implements OnInit { title = 'Susper'; constructor(private router: Router) { } ngOnInit() {   this.router.events.subscribe((evt) => {     if (!(evt instanceof NavigationEnd)) {       return;     }     window.scrollTo(0, 0);   }); } } “NavigationEnd” is triggered on the end of a Navigation action, in Angular2. So if the “NavigationEnd” hasn’t been triggered, our function need not do anything else and can simply return.  If a Navigation action has just finished the window is made to scroll up to (0,0) coordinates. Now, this is how the Terms page opens:   Done! Now every time a link is clicked it scrolls to the top.

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Deploying Angular 2 application using GitHub Pages

In recent months I have started working with Angular 2 technology as my project is based on this tech stack. Angular 2 is one of the famous frameworks of JavaScript. The project name is 'Susper' which is currently being in development stages under FOSSASIA. In FOSSASIA, to be a good developer everyone follows good practices. One of the good practice is providing a live preview of the fix done in a pull request related to a particular issue. It was not simple to deploy test pages as it looks on GitHub pages. I read a lot of StackOverflow answers and surfed google a lot to find a solution. Then I came to the solution, which I'll be sharing with you in this blog. I'm assuming your Angular 2 app must be using webpack services and the latest version of Angular has been installed. Firstly, be sure Angular CLI must be updated. If not, then update the Angular CLI to a new version. You must update both the global package and local package of your project. Global package: npm uninstall -g @angular/cli npm cache clean npm install -g @angular/cli@latest NOTE - Make sure to install local packages, you must be inside the project folder. To make deployments easier, follow these steps after updating global and local packages - Install angular-cli-ghpages : npm i -g angular-cli-ghpages This command is similar to the old github pages:deploy command of @angular/cli and this script works great with Travis CI. After installing you should see the changes in the package.json as well: "devDependencies": {     "angular-cli-ghpages": "^0.5.0" } After updating the global and local package you will notice a new folder named 'node_modules' has been created. Now the magic part comes to play here! Add deploy script: In package.json file add the following deploy script - "scripts": {     "deploy": "ng build --prod --aot --base-href=/project_repo_name/ && cp ./dist/index.html ./dist/404.html && ./node_modules/.bin/angular-cli-ghpages --no-silent" } We have setup the required dependencies to deploy test page. Now, here it comes to generate a live preview: Steps : git checkout working_branch ng build npm run deploy We have successfully deployed the repository to GitHub pages. To refer live preview go here - https://yourusername.github.io/project_name How did it work out? Well, this is the easiest way to deploy any angular 2 apps on GitHub pages. The only disadvantage of deploying to GitHub pages is that we have to always perform a manual build before providing a live preview whenever some changes have been done in that particular branch.

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FOSSASIA Hack Trip to 32C3 Chaos Communication Congress

From December 27-30 the 32C3 Chaos Communication Congress took place in Hamburg, Germany. Members of the FOSSASIA community met at the event to learn about the latest OpenTech hacks. We used the opportunity to work with mentors on our coding program for kids. See photos from our gathering here.Get together at 32C3 HamburgHong Phuc Dang meeting Mitch Altman (Twitter)Meetup with FOSSASIA mentors and supporters from Europe Michael Christen (Yacy.net/loklak), Jan Suhr (Nitrokey), Hong Phuc Dang (FOSSASIA), Anna (Mozilla)

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